The Doradidae are a

family Family (from la, familia) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its ...

catfish Catfish (or catfishes; order Siluriformes or Nematognathi) are a diverse group of ray-finned fish. Named for their prominent barbels, which resemble a cat's whiskers, catfish range in size and behavior from the three largest species alive, ...

es also known as thorny catfishes, raphael catfishes or talking catfishes. These fish are native to

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the southe ...

, primarily the

Amazon basin The Amazon basin is the part of South America drained by the Amazon River and its tributaries. The Amazon drainage basin covers an area of about , or about 35.5 percent of the South American continent. It is located in the countries of Bolivi ...

and

the Guianas The Guianas, sometimes called by the Spanish loan-word ''Guayanas'' (''Las Guayanas''), is a region in north-eastern South America which includes the following three territories: * French Guiana, an overseas department and region of France * ...

. Doradids are

omnivorous An omnivore () is an animal that has the ability to eat and survive on both plant and animal matter. Obtaining energy and nutrients from plant and animal matter, omnivores digest carbohydrates, protein, fat, and fiber, and metabolize the nutri ...

Taxonomy

As of 2007, 31

genera Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nomenclat ...

and 78

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...

are in this family. '' Wertheimeria'' is considered to be the

sister taxon In phylogenetics, a sister group or sister taxon, also called an adelphotaxon, comprises the closest relative(s) of another given unit in an evolutionary tree. Definition The expression is most easily illustrated by a cladogram: Taxon A and t ...

to all other doradids. This family is

monophyletic In cladistics for a group of organisms, monophyly is the condition of being a clade—that is, a group of taxa composed only of a common ancestor (or more precisely an ancestral population) and all of its lineal descendants. Monophyletic gro ...

and contains the subfamilies Doradinae, Astrodoradinae and Wertheimerinae.Birindelli, J.L.O. (2014): Phylogenetic relationships of the South American Doradoidea (Ostariophysi: Siluriformes). ''Neotropical Ichthyology 12(3): 451-564''. The Astrodoradinae contain the genera '' Amblydoras'', '' Anadoras'', ''

Astrodoras ''Astrodoras'' is a monotypic genus with the only species ''Astrodoras asterifrons'' of catfish (order Siluriformes) family Doradidae. This species originates from the Amazon basin of Bolivia and Brazil and reaches a length of about SL. This ge ...

'', ''

Hypodoras ''Hypodoras forficulatus'' is the only species in the genus ''Hypodoras'' of the catfish (order Siluriformes) family Doradidae. This species is endemic to Peru where it is found in the upper Amazon basin The Amazon basin is the part of So ...

'', ''

Merodoras ''Merodoras nheco'' is species of freshwater ray-finned fish, it is the only species in the genus ''Merodoras'' of the catfish (order Siluriformes) family Doradidae. Taxonomy ''Merodoras'' and its type species ''M. nheco'' were described in 20 ...

'', '' Physopyxis'', and '' Scorpiodoras''.

Distribution

Doradids occur in most

n basins, though they are absent from the

Pacific Coast Pacific coast may be used to reference any coastline that borders the Pacific Ocean. Geography Americas Countries on the western side of the Americas have a Pacific coast as their western or southwestern border, except for Panama, where the Pac ...

drainages and from coastal drainages south of the

Río de la Plata The Río de la Plata (, "river of silver"), also called the River Plate or La Plata River in English, is the estuary formed by the confluence of the Uruguay River and the Paraná River at Punta Gorda. It empties into the Atlantic Ocean and fo ...

. About 70% of the valid species occur in the

Amazon Amazon most often refers to: * Amazons, a tribe of female warriors in Greek mythology * Amazon rainforest, a rainforest covering most of the Amazon basin * Amazon River, in South America * Amazon (company), an American multinational technology c ...

basin; the

Orinoco The Orinoco () is one of the longest rivers in South America at . Its drainage basin, sometimes known as the Orinoquia, covers , with 76.3 percent of it in Venezuela and the remainder in Colombia. It is the fourth largest river in the wor ...

basin harbors about 22 species and ranks second in species richness. Conversely, only two species of doradids have been described from

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

ian eastern coastal basins: '' Wertheimeria maculata'' from the

Jequitinhonha Jequitinhonha is a Brazilian municipality located in the northeast of the state of Minas Gerais. Location The population was estimated to be 25,474 people living in a total area of 3,518 km². The city belongs to the mesoregion of Jequitinh ...

and Pardo rivers and ''

Kalyptodoras bahiensis ''Kalyptodoras bahiensis'' is the only species in the genus ''Kalyptodoras'' of the catfish (order Siluriformes) family Doradidae. This species is endemic to Brazil where it is found in the Paraguaçu River The Paraguaçu River () is a river in ...

'' from the

Paraguaçu River The Paraguaçu River () is a river in Bahia state of eastern Brazil. It runs from the Chapada Diamantina highlands of central Bahia to its mouth at the Baía de Todos os Santos. The Paraguaçu is the largest river entirely within Bahia. Its banks ...

Appearance and anatomy

Doradids are easily recognized by a well-developed

nuchal The nape is the back of the neck. In technical anatomical/medical terminology, the nape is also called the nucha (from the Medieval Latin rendering of the Arabic , "spinal marrow"). The corresponding adjective is ''nuchal'', as in the term ''nu ...

shield in front of the

dorsal fin A dorsal fin is a fin located on the back of most marine and freshwater vertebrates within various taxa of the animal kingdom. Many species of animals possessing dorsal fins are not particularly closely related to each other, though through conv ...

, as well as well-developed bony lumps along the

lateral line The lateral line, also called the lateral line organ (LLO), is a system of sensory organs found in fish, used to detect movement, vibration, and pressure gradients in the surrounding water. The sensory ability is achieved via modified epithelial ...

that form thorny scutes. Also, doradids typically have three pairs of

barbel Barbel may refer to: *Barbel (anatomy), a whisker-like organ near the mouth found in some fish (notably catfish, loaches and cyprinids) and turtles *Barbel (fish), a common name for certain species of fish **''Barbus barbus'', a species of cyprinid ...

s (no nasal barbels), an

adipose fin Fins are distinctive anatomical features composed of bony spines or rays protruding from the body of a fish. They are covered with skin and joined together either in a webbed fashion, as seen in most bony fish, or similar to a flipper, as s ...

, and four to six rays on the dorsal fin with a spine on the

anterior Standard anatomical terms of location are used to unambiguously describe the anatomy of animals, including humans. The terms, typically derived from Latin or Greek roots, describe something in its standard anatomical position. This position prov ...

(first) ray. These fish are sometimes called "talking catfish" because of their ability to produce sound by moving their pectoral spine or vibrating their swim bladder. Sizes range from SL in '' Physopyxis lyra'' to FL and in ''

Oxydoras niger ''Oxydoras niger'', the ripsaw catfish or cuiu cuiu, is a species of thorny catfish native to the Amazon, Essequibo and São Francisco basins in Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Peru and Venezuela. This species grows to a length of ...

''.

References

External links

The Family Doradidae or "Talking Catfishes"
Article on Scotcat.com by Chris Ralph {{Taxonbar, from=Q796187 Fish of South America Catfish families Taxa named by Pieter Bleeker

Taxonomy

Distribution

Appearance and anatomy

See also

References

External links